PESHAWAR: Violent protests erupted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday as crippling electricity cuts left hundreds of thousands of people without power in soaring temperatures during the first two days of the holy fasting month of Ramazan.
At least two people, one of them reportedly from the youth wing of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), were killed and eight wounded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after police opened fire on hundreds of people protesting at the cuts by trying to set a power station ablaze, officials said. “The protesters first tried to torch the electricity power station and then they attacked a police station,” Zafar Ali Shah, a senior government official in Malakand district, said, adding that the demonstrators also attacked government buildings, offices and vehicles.
Protesters later blocked a main highway linking Malakand and the Swat valley to the rest of the country, Shah added, saying that authorities are negotiating with local leaders to defuse the demonstrations.
The military was called to rein-in the protest against persistent power outages in the area. The protesters set ablaze a Levies station, a Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) office and sub-office of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in Malakand following reports that Javed Khan Tufan – a former PTI student wing president – had been killed. In a bid to control the situation, levies officials fired teargas shells and rubber bullets on the protesters.
The protesters from Dobandi, Warter and Qadam Khel Union Councils were demonstrating against unannounced power outages in the area when they stormed Dargai power station and set it on fire, destroying WAPDA records and parked vehicles.
Both sides blamed each other for the bloodshed. Senior levies officials denied reports of any straight fire causing the death of the PTI official and instead alleged the shot that killed him came from the protesters.
At the time of filing of this report, traffic on Mardan-Malakand road remained suspended as protesters staged a demonstration with the body of the deceased on the road.
The situation is now on high alert in the area with armed forces being called in to stamp out the possibility of any other untoward incident.
The spokesperson of PESCO stated in a press release that miscreants attacked the office of the SDO1 and SDO2 in the early morning of the day and set ablaze the office records besides shattering the doors and windows of the office.
The statement said that the protesters burned down the vehicles present at the premises.
He said WAPDA was working on the Palai line and power supply had been cut off to the area due to the working of WAPDA employees on the line. He said local elders and members of jirga were also taken into confidence in this regard.
In the provincial capital Peshawar, some 800 protesters took over two power stations, demanding government employees continue the electricity supply without interruption.
Residents in Peshawar said they face cuts for six to eight hours a day, while rural areas can receive electricity for as little as three to four hours a day.
